TV Aerial Repair Costs in the UK (2026)

A TV aerial repair call-out in the UK typically costs £60–£100 including diagnosis, with most single fixes landing between £60 and £150. Realignment runs £60–£120, a mast or bracket re-fix £80–£150, and cable or wall-plate repairs sit at the cheaper end. If the aerial itself is corroded or storm-wrecked, a full replacement at £150–£250 is often better value than patching it.

This guide is the repair companion to our TV aerial installation cost guide, which covers new installs in detail. The short cross-reference: a standard new external install is £150–£250, and that number matters here because it’s the ceiling any repair quote should be judged against.

Typical repair prices in 2026

Rounded trade ranges for a single visit, one engineer, normal two-storey access. Regional variation applies — London and the South East run toward the top of each range.

Job	Typical price	Notes
Call-out and diagnosis	£60–£100	Often waived or absorbed if you go ahead with the repair
Flylead or wall-plate fix	£60–£80	The cheap end — indoor work, no ladder
Coax cable repair or partial re-run	£60–£120	Depends on cable length and routing
Aerial realignment	£60–£120	Turning and re-clamping an aerial that’s moved
Mast or bracket re-fix	£80–£150	New fixings, sometimes a new bracket
Full cable replacement (roof to TV)	£100–£180	Effectively a re-install minus the aerial
New aerial (full replacement)	£150–£250	Matches a standard new install

Prices assume no scaffolding, no cherry picker and no chimney in a poor state — see the access section below for when those change things.

What the call-out fee actually buys

A proper repair visit starts with a signal meter (a handheld tester that measures signal strength and quality per multiplex — a MUX being a bundle of channels on one frequency) at the TV point, then works back up the cable toward the aerial until the fault is found. That diagnosis is the skilled part of the job; the fix itself is often ten minutes with a crimp tool. It’s why a fair engineer charges a call-out that includes diagnosis, and why many will roll it into the repair price if you proceed. What you should get for it: a named fault, not a shrug — “water in the connection at the mast head”, “aerial has swung 40 degrees off Winter Hill”, “coax perished at the gutter line”.

If you want to narrow things down before booking, our guides to checking signal strength and why your aerial won’t work cover the checks you can safely do from indoors.

The common repairs, in order of cost

Flyleads and wall plates (£60–£80). The lead from the wall socket to the TV, and the socket itself, fail more often than anything on the roof — kinked leads, loose centre pins, corroded plate terminals. Genuinely the cheap end, and worth ruling out first: swap the flylead yourself for a few pounds before calling anyone.

Coax repairs (£60–£120). Coax (the round screened aerial cable) fails at its joints and where weather reaches it. Waterlogged outdoor connections, cracked outer sheath letting water track down inside, and old low-grade cable are the usual finds. Short repairs and re-terminations sit low in the range; longer re-runs push toward the top. Our coax cable guide explains what decent cable looks like.

Realignment (£60–£120). Wind works aerials loose over years, and a clamp that’s lost its grip lets the aerial swing off-bearing. Symptoms: picture breaking up in wind, whole MUXes weak or missing. The fix is turning the aerial back to the transmitter bearing, checking on the meter, and re-tightening — plus finding out why it moved, because a realignment without a sound clamp is a repeat booking. If the aerial has drifted so far it’s picking up a different transmitter, you may also see channels vanish after a retune.

Mast and bracket re-fixes (£80–£150). Rusted lashing wire on chimney mounts, pulled fixings on wall brackets, bent masts. This is the repair that matters most, because a failing bracket is a safety issue as well as a signal one. Expect new fixings and sometimes a new bracket within the price.

Repair or replace?

The decision usually makes itself once you price it honestly. A modern aerial’s working life is roughly 10–12 years outdoors; corrosion attacks the element rivets and the connection box long before the frame looks bad. Add up the arithmetic: a £100 realignment plus a £120 cable repair on a 15-year-old aerial has cost you £220 to keep hardware that owes you nothing — when £150–£250 buys a complete new install with a new aerial, mast, bracket and cable, warrantied, per our installation cost guide.

Rules of thumb an honest engineer will use:

Aerial under 8 years old with one clear fault → repair.
Aerial 10+ years old, corroded, or with more than one fault → replace.
Any repair quote above about £150 on old hardware → replace.
Element rot (missing or dangling cross-pieces) → always replace; the aerial’s gain is already gone. Our aerial types guide covers what you’d be replacing it with, and what TV aerial do I need covers choosing for your transmitter.

What moves the price up

Roof height and access. Two-storey with ladder access is the baseline. Three storeys, steep pitches, dormers and fragile roof coverings add labour; anything needing scaffolding or a cherry picker adds £150–£400+ before the repair starts.
Chimney vs wall. Chimney-mounted aerials cost more to work on than gable or fascia mounts — more climbing, and lashed brackets take longer to re-fit than bolted ones. A crumbling chimney can rule out re-fixing entirely, forcing a relocation to a wall mount.
Location. London, the South East and city centres with parking restrictions price higher than the national ranges.
Extras found on the day. A failed masthead amplifier, a splitter feeding several rooms, or communal wiring on flats (which is usually the freeholder’s responsibility — see are TV aerials a landlord’s responsibility) all add scope.

Storm damage and insurance

Aerials brought down or bent by storms are a special case: home insurance sometimes covers them under buildings cover, subject to the excess — which frequently exceeds the repair cost, so check the arithmetic before claiming. Photograph the damage before anything is touched, and don’t let anyone talk you into “insurance pricing”. Our storm-damaged TV aerial guide walks through the whole process, including making the aerial safe first.

Avoiding the call-out cowboys

Aerial repair attracts a minority of rogue traders because the customer can’t easily verify the diagnosis. Warning signs: a “£29 call-out” that turns into a £400 invoice on the roof, a diagnosis delivered without a signal meter ever appearing, pressure to replace everything today, and cash-only pricing. The £29 hook is the same economics we dissect in the cheap aerial installation myth — nobody runs a van, ladders and insurance to the kerb for £29; the money is made after the hook.

Questions to ask before booking:

Is the call-out fee waived or deducted if I go ahead with the repair?
Will you show me the meter readings before and after?
What’s the guarantee on the repair — parts and labour, and for how long?
Are you insured for roof work, and CAI-registered? (CAI — the Confederation of Aerial Industries, the industry’s trade body — membership isn’t mandatory, but it signals accountability.)
If you recommend replacement instead, what’s the full price, fitted?

A legitimate engineer answers all five without hesitation.

If your aerial needs looking at, contact us or use the postcode checker and we’ll route your enquiry to a vetted local installer. We’re a referral service, not the crew on the ladder — the prices above are honest market ranges so you can judge any quote you’re given, including the ones that come through us.